Congratulations to the Band On The Wall on the occasion of the series of events to celebrate the reopening of their splendid venue. A Certain Ratio graced proceedings last Saturday and apparently a good time was had by all.

A new exhibition opens at the Museum of Science and Industry (MoSI) in Manchester on 3 October. Entitled 'Wythenshawe' it features objects from the Museum's collections alongside community-produced work.

There several themes in the exhibition, one of which is Creativity. As some of you will be aware, a few Factory acts hailed from Wythenshawe (as well as Rob Gretton) and there are Factory artefacts on display in the gallery. In addition, where possible MoSI has used the display material to work with young people in Wythenshawe to create work based on similar ideas. In particular MoSI worked with a Youth Panel to produce icons based on the four themes, to include on text panels and publicity, with clear links to Peter Saville's icons for Factory.

The exhibition is on display from the 3 October 2009 to 28 February 2010.

The set, which was first sold at the recent A Paean To Wilson gigs at the Manchester International Festival, features the first four releases for Factory Records plus two bonus discs with studio/demo and live material from the relevant early period of The Durutti Column's history.

22 Sep 2009

A reminder that tomorrow sees the unveiling of Blue Plaques in the Borough of Rochdale to commemorate and recognise two uniquely important recording venues/music buildings that influenced rock and pop music locally, nationally and internationally.

From 1974-1990 some of the most influential and celebrated recording artists of the era recorded or bought equipment at Kenion St in Rochdale (Tractor Music/Cargo Studios, then later Suite 16) and Tractor Sound Studios in Heywood.

The unveilings are the appetizer for a series of events throughout the day, culminating in a gig with Peter Hook and Section 25.

There will be a feature on Route M62 by Oli Wilson on BBC Radio Manchester in the morning but you can catch a sneak preview on soundcloud.com. Oli will also be doing a live interview with Hooky at 8.30am. With thanks to Oli on the Cerysmatic Factory Message Board.

The posters are 500 x 700mm, printed with black and silver ink, and designed by Wallzo who also designed the book.

We are much obliged to Kevin Cummins who has kindly set the competition questions:

1. One of the following was the manager of The Drones for a short while. Who?

a. Richard Boonb. Paul Morleyc. Kevin Cummins

2. Why is the predominant colour in Manchester: Looking for the Light Through the Pouring Rain, light blue?

3. Kevin Cummins shot almost 200 NME covers. Who did he photograph for his first one?

Answers please by email [to "info" at "the domain name of this site"] with the subject "Kevin Cummins Competition". The closing date for entries is 22:00 BST on 30 September 2009. The winner will be notified by email.

The Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester are kindly lending Salts Mill in Saltaire the Kevin Cummins exhibition to go with the publication of Manchester: Looking for the Light through the Pouring Rain so that the white and red roses can be united and Yorkshire folk can gaze in awe at Manc musicians in the beautiful roof space at Salts Mill. We will have iPods with specially created play lists for people to listen to as they walk round the exhibition and the austerity of the photos will sit beautifully against the cavernous, poetically delicate space. Admission is free and the gallery is open daily from 11am to 4.30pm from Wednesday 30 September to Friday 16 October.

On Sunday 11 October 2009 there will be special event where Kevin Cummins will be in conversation with Kevin Sampson (Stars are Stars / Awaydays / Powder) about photography, music and the North. This is a ticketed event (£5/£3) and begins with a film about Kevin's work with a specially commissioned soundtrack by Graham Massey (Biting Tongues / 808 State) and ends with a book signing. Tickets are available by calling 01274 587377.

16 Sep 2009

The event takes place at the Roundhouse in London on 9 November 2009 and will feature a screening of a 20-minute film of the photos in the book edited to a specially-composed soundtrack by Graham Massey. This will be followed a talk about Manchester with Paul Morley, Kevin Cummins, Mike Pickering and another guest. All this, plus a Q&A session and a book signing.

Ticket details are still to be confirmed but we will announce them as soon as we have them.

The full tracklisting for the recently-announced Kooky Records album A Paean To Wilson (Kookydisc 29/1 & 29/2) which will first go on sale at the imminent Beyond The Loop concert (9 October @ King's Place) is:

Movement

I Or Are You Just A TechnicianII ChantIII QuatroIV RequiemV StukiVI Along Came PoppyVII BrotherVIII Duet With PianoIX Darkness HereX Catos RevisitedXI The TruthXII How Unbelievable

15 Sep 2009

FAC 51 The Haçienda architect Ben Kelly and the design team of Ben Cox and Bill Holding at Morph have collaborated with the full approval and support of original owner Peter Hook to produce two separate, limited edition art prints of the original FAC 51 The Haçienda which are to be launched at Buy Art Fair at Urbis, Manchester from the 24-27 September 2009. The first night preview is on Thursday 24 September from 5-9pm and Ben Kelly, Morph and Peter Hook will be in attendance on the night.

The prints will subsequently be exhibited at the Zoo Art Fair in London from 16-19 October 2009 which takes place the same week as the Frieze Art Fair. At both exhibitions, the prints are exclusive to the Paul Stolper stand.

As FAC 51 The Haçienda has been beset by a number of unofficial and bootleg artworks which consistently fail to match the design standards set by the club, it was decided in early 2009 to produce this set of two art prints marking both East and West views of the original venue. This is the first and only time to date that FAC 51 The Haçienda has published any fine art prints of the club and marks an opportunity for art collectors to purchase exclusive and limited edition screen prints, officially endorsed by FAC 51 The Haçienda.

The project initially came about when Ben Cox and Bill Holding from Morph approached Ben Kelly in February 2007 about rebuilding The Haçienda as a digital model, requiring the original specifications from Ben who was happy to oblige.

Morph explain how the digital model came about: "The Haçienda must be rebuilt! On the 25th anniversary of the Haçienda's opening, we decided to begin work recreating it in a way that wasn't possible at the time of its original conception, as a highly detailed three-dimensional computer model. Working closely with Ben Kelly, using all the original architectural drawings and specifications, we faithfully reconstructed one of Manchester's lost landmarks enabling us to explore the space in new ways and bring the venue back to life."

Ben Kelly, who was delighted to help out, said "When Ben and Bill from Morph approached me and proposed that they wanted to digitally rebuild The Haçienda, I fully supported the idea. I had previously seen the incredible work Morph had executed - digitally recreating Unknown Pleasures for Peter Saville.

"From the outset, I felt that there was potential to combine views taken from the digital model using advanced software packages with the more traditional medium of silk screen printing. I imagined an almost painterly end product layered on top of the technological digital rebuild. I see the end product as a hybrid collaboration. Lurid colours on columns supporting a monochromatic container - - a ghost in the machine."

It was then decided to produce two fine art prints from the digital installation, namely an eastside and a westside view of the club across the dancefloor, showing the heroic scale and cathedral like quality of FAC 51's interior which has served to make the club so legendary and long lasting in the memories of those who were lucky enough to attend.

These high quality silkscreen prints have been produced to the highest specifications by Coriander Studio, Fine Art Printmakers and Publishers, one of the world's leading art print manufacturers whose client roster also includes Damien Hirst and Sir Peter Blake.

All prints will be signed by Ben Kelly and Morph whilst an additional signed provenance on the artwork will come from Peter Hook who was becoming increasingly frustrated with unofficial Haçienda products.

Hooky explains why: "The thing that appealed to me about the idea, in the first place, was that I was totally sick of the bootlegs and things not being done properly. It was a lovely idea to do and to have it done it right and by the right people, both artistically and morally, makes the entire project worthwhile.

"When I first saw the images, I was shocked. It was beautiful and I was really taken aback. It looked like you could have just fucking dived into it! I was over the moon! The Morph boys have done a great job, ably led, aided and abetted by our mate Ben Kelly. I am absolutely delighted that these prints highlight the beauty and individuality of The Haçienda and give credit to Ben, who more than deserves his credit, as to why The Haçienda worked (or didn't work) and why it was so astounding."

Each print is part of a limited run of only 150, making a full run of 300 across both prints and is printed on 410 gsm Somerset Tub paper. The image sizes are 615mm x 765mm on a paper size of 742 x 905 mm.

14 Sep 2009

The Durutti Column have a new limited edition 6CD box set coming out on Artful/Fullfill on 3 November comprising all their recorded output for the label (from Rebellion to Love In The Time of Recession) together with a bonus disc of extra material. A set of art prints of the individual album covers completes the package.

Details are scarce at the moment but the box is attractively priced at £13.99 (via Townsend Records) and so clearly set to become a stocking filler at Christmas.

Peter Hook tells the unbelievable yet true story of the music, madness and the meltdown that accompanied the rise and fall of FAC 51 The Haçienda in his long-awaited, uncompromisingly honest and forthright account of the original superclub in The Haçienda - How Not To Run A Club which is published by Simon & Schuster on 5 Oct 2009 priced £18.99.

Copies of the book purchased at Fopp / HMV also come with a free half hour DVD documentary entitled Inside The Haçienda, presented by Miranda Sawyer and featuring interviews with Peter Hook, Ben Kelly, Mike Pickering, Jon Dasilva & Fiona Allen. Check out the trailer on Facebook (login not required).

Hooky has also compiled and mixed Haçienda – Acid House Classics, a double CD album of many of the greatest Haçienda acid classics from seminal artists such as A Guy Called Gerald, Fast Eddie, Phuture, Adonis, and New Order. The album is released on New State Music the same day as the book.

To celebrate the dual release of the book and CD, Hooky is touring the UK doing signing sessions, DJ sets and more. In addition, he appears at Sheffield's Off The Shelf literary festival on Thursday 15 October 2009.

8 Sep 2009

The debut album from Bad Lieutenant, "Never Cry Another Tear" is now available to order exclusively at the Bad Lieutenant online store.

A limited edition, Deluxe Box Set is available to pre-order. This includes the "Never Cry Another Tear" CD album including two bonus tracks, double vinyl album, exclusive 7", a deluxe booklet and a numbered Art Print. The band have also designed a Limited Edition T-Shirt that can only be ordered with the Super Deluxe Box Set.

"Never Cry Another Tear" is also available on Limited Edition Digipack CD (featuring Two Bonus Tracks), Vinyl LP, standard CD, and Digital Download.

Kooky Records is proud to announce the next album release by The Durutti Column will be the studio version of A Paean To Wilson which was premiered live at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009. This stunning instrumental suite was specially commissioned for the MIF and represents Vini Reilly's special personal tribute to Tony Wilson who died in August 2007.

As with the live line-up featured during those shows, The Durutti Column is again augmented by John Metcalfe and Tim Kellett on this full-length studio album.

This CD-only release will first go on sale at the King's Place concert on 9 October 2009 at which the band will again be playing A Paean To Wilson live. A general release will follow but the date for this has not yet been confirmed. Watch this space for more information. Tickets are still available for this gig via kingsplace.co.uk (including Saver Seats for a bargain £9.50).

Stuart Argabright out-of-Ike Yard's new group Outpost presented a special tribute to JG Ballard tributes last Saturday on US radio station WFMU. The archive audio is up there already and you can check out the initial, ahem, Outposts:

In the grey days of late 1970s post-punk Manchester, youth culture was a serious affair: every musical performance was measured mostly by the conviction of its delivery. The term 'New Wave' opened up free vistas where acquired skills could once again be exercised after punk's monochrome blur. It could be applied to anything from a James 'Blood' Ulmer record to the latest Throbbing Gristle release, Magazine to Swell Maps. Move outside that terrain into Sun Ra, Parliament, Frank Sinatra and Martin Denny, and your options were suddenly without limit...

Then came Tony Wilson's Factory Club (at the Russell Club in Hulme) offering an open invitation to experiment that was taken up when Ken Hollings, Howard Walmsley, Eddie Sherwood and a few others decided to make some noise to accompany their 16mm silent epic Biting Tongues. A further performance followed a few weeks later, when Colin Seddon and Graham Massey disbanded their Post Natals project and joined up. The film itself, a flashing series of negative images, became a memory; the name remained.